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Operator
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the JinkoSolar third-quarter 2016 earnings conference call. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today: Wednesday, November 16, 2016.
I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Mr. Sebastian Liu, Investor Relations Director. Please go ahead, Mr. Liu.
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
Thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today for JinkoSolar's third-quarter 2016 earnings conference call.
The Company's results were released earlier today, and available on the Company's IR website at www.jinkosolar.com, as well as on the newswire services. We have also provided a supplemental presentation for today's earnings call, which can also be found on IR's website.
On the call today from JinkoSolar are Mr. Chen Kangping, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Cao Haiyun, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Gener Miao, VP, Global Sales & Marketing; and Mr. Sebastian Liu, IR Director.
Mr. Chen will discuss JinkoSolar's business operations and Company highlights; followed by Mr. Gener Miao, who will talk about the sales and marketing; and then, Mr. Cao will go through the financials. They will all be available to answer your questions during the Q&A sessions that follows.
Please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our future result may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
JinkoSolar does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except required under applicable law.
It is now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Chen Kangping, CEO of JinkoSolar. Mr. Chen will speak in Mandarin, and I will translate his comments into English. Please go ahead, Mr. Chen.
Kangping Chen - CEO
(interpreted) Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning, and good evening, to everyone, and thank you for joining us today.
I am pleased to announce another strong quarter. Module shipments reached 1,606 megawatts, an increase of 41.6% year over year, where total revenues hit $855.3 million US dollars; an increase of 39% over the same period of last year.
Gross margin was 22.1%, compared with 20.4% in the second quarter of 2016, and 21.3% during the same period of last year.
Based on our current visibility into the fourth quarter, we are once again increasing our full-year shipment guidance to 6.6 gigawatts to 6.7 gigawatts, from our previous guidance of 6 gigawatts to 6.5 gigawatts.
During the third quarter, Jinko Power connected 184 megawatt solar projects, bringing total connection to 1,314 megawatts. Electricity output increased 20.8% sequentially to 395 gigawatt hour, while generating RMB372.4 million revenue.
Our sale of the Jinko Power's business closed yesterday for $250 million in cash. Through this spin-off, we will significantly improve our balance sheet by reducing debt and our net gearing ratio.
Our strong cash position will also provide us added flexibility to the expand our module business, further reduce debt, and initiate share buyback, when appropriate.
Turning to global markets, where we don't see massive (inaudible - technical difficulty) during the first quarter, (inaudible - technical difficulty). As market price stabilize, demand is expected to pick up again with the announcements of next round of feed-in tariff cuts, which should act as a catalyst for strong growth during the first half of 2017.
As such, from the traditional utility scale market in China we are also diversifying our revenue streams by actively getting involved in [shaping] projects of Top Runner Program, and the PV Poverty Alleviation Program.
Demand in Europe is stable, but spot market ASP have created challenging environments; and also, a sense of uncertainty is spreading in the market after the presidential election. We view this as a [sudden] panic and overreaction by the market, and we believe it has already begun to stabilize.
We expect the US market will be back on track, we are sure, and heat up again during the second half of 2017.
Looking at the European market, the withdrawal of major solar manufacturers from the EU's MIP agreement is actually benefiting previous customers by helping boost competitiveness. We like this fairer, more transparent, and projectable market environment.
Our India operations are also growing very fast. We have reinforced our sales teams with the opening of our New Delhi office to provide local technical and logistical support for our customers.
We've consolidated our leading position in new emerging markets, such as Latin America and the Middle East, especially in key markets, such as Chile, Mexico, and the UAE, which Gener will go over in detail, later.
On the technology front, we remain focused on developing high-efficiency products. Our multi-products have a clear competitive advantage in the market, and our mono wafer production capacity, using diamond-wire cutting, is now operational and is scaling up rapidly to support our high-efficiency PERC lines.
Our MCP process net silicon solar sales are also about to begin mass production.
For technical [reserves], we continue to be develop our (inaudible) silicon sales.
As a leader in the industry, our team is constantly focusing on providing our customers the highest quality, most reliable, and high efficient products.
We have experienced ups and downs of the solar industry, but we have never had any doubt about its great potential. As technology improves and system costs falls solar energy has become increasingly competitive and is actually re-shaping the global energy landscape. We are very proud to be part of this trend, and we will continue to grow our business sustainably as we fulfil our commitment to green energy.
Before I pass to Gener, I will quickly go [through outlook] for the fourth quarter and full-year 2016.
In the fourth quarter, the Company estimates total solar module shipments to be in the range of 1.7 gigawatts to 1.8 gigawatts. As I mentioned before, we have raising our full-year 2016 guidance to 6.6 gigawatts to 6.7 gigawatts.
With that, I will turn the call over to Gener.
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Thank you, Mr. Chen. As Mr. Chen mentioned, we shipped a total of 1,606 megawatts of solar modules during the quarter.
We are very proud to have achieved such great results, and are raising our full-year shipment guidance, despite under a challenging environment. We remain constantly optimistic about 2017's prospects, especially with certain markets regaining growth momentum.
To give you a quick overview of the geographic distribution of our shipments, we shipped 1,556 megawatts of solar modules to third parties, including 38% to China; 38% to North America; 11% to Asia Pacific; 6% to Europe; and 7% to emerging markets.
As demand in India, Latin America, and the Middle East picks up our geographic mix will improve and continue to balance out in the following quarters.
During this quarter, we expanded our market presence from 47 to 57 countries and regions, and established the New Delhi office in India to provide local service and support to our customers there.
China remained one of our largest markets during this quarter. Although (inaudible) orders in fourth quarter are not very evident, demand remains strong as prices stabilize and began to increase again. We expect the demand to grow again during the first-half 2017, as a result of FIT cuts to be announced by NDRC.
We are also further consolidating competitive advantage in markets by supplying more of our high-end modules to solar projects organized by the [Top Runner] program, which required high efficiency and recognizable brand named products.
Outside China, the US market continues be our main focus. As Mr. Chen just briefly mentioned, there was relatively sharp decline in ASP during the [third] quarter, which (inaudible) has already bottom-up. And the presidential election result [will not] (inaudible - technical difficulty) to the market, especially the concerns about the policy uncertainties, such as ITC extension.
Despite near-term headwinds, we remain optimistic about the US market. Solar energy is gaining more and more popularity and creating a large number of jobs in US. The market is now rapidly recovering as ASP has stabilized. We expect to see the US market return to [extortionate] growth during the second half of 2017.
Demand and ASP in Japan and EU have remained relatively stable. We are pleased that we see competitive competition in the EU become more market driven, following the withdrawal from the EU's MIP by a number of major solar manufacturers. We welcome this more market-driven environment, which we believe is fair and transparent.
Japan is still a sizeable market, which we expect will be a [tax-free] country next year. We continue to monitor and evaluate the new opportunities in Japan as we try to increase our share of this high [emerging] market.
As I mentioned last quarter, shipments to emerging markets will be concentrated towards the end of 2016, and into 2017. We continue to expand our competitive edge in this market, especially in Latin America and the Middle East, with more than 30% market share in key markets, such Chile, Mexico, and Brazil, which I am very proud of. We now have over 40 countries and regions in emerging markets.
India shows great potential as we devote more resources towards this strategic important market. We enlarged the sales team in our New Delhi office, and established a local service team, including logistic and technical, to support our clients.
Total ASP during this quarter came in at $0.49. We expect ASP to continue to be decrease in the fourth quarter and stabilize during the first quarter of 2017.
Moving to marketing and branding, we participated in a number of events, exhibitions, and conferences during the quarter.
In August, we attended Intersolar South America in Brazil, where we exhibited our Eagle Dual and 72-cell Eagle series as the largest player in Brazil.
In September, we attended SPI in Las Vegas, where we exhibited our brand new Eagle module (inaudible) series, and also (inaudible), which is marketed for the residential market.
In October, we attended The Green Expo in Mexico, which was the largest industry green show in Mexico. We exhibited our new TS4 smart solutions and (inaudible) solutions there.
We were also named as one of Fortune Magazine's top 100 fastest-growing public companies, ranking number 16 overall.
We were also appointed as one of co-share for the B20, under the leadership of the German G20 presidency.
We further strengthened our leading position and brand value and recognition worldwide by participating in those events.
Now, I would like to turn the call over to Charlie, who will go over our financial results of this quarter.
Charlie Cao - CFO
Thank you, Gener. I'd like to walk you through our financial results for the third quarter of 2016.
Total solar module shipments were 1.6 gigawatts; down 6% sequentially, and up 42% year over year.
We connected 184 megawatts of projects this quarter, and had 1,314 megawatts operating by end of Q3.
Total revenue was $855 million; down 4% sequentially, and up 39% year over year.
The revenue generated from solar-powered projects was $56 million; up 29% sequentially, and up 81% year over year.
Gross margin was 22.1%, compared to 20.4% in Q2, and 21.3% in Q3 2015.
ASP was $0.50 per watt, which continues to cut our integrated (inaudible) silicon costs to $0.27 per watt, from $0.29 in Q2.
The blended costs, excluding the US tariff costs, were cut to $0.37 per watt; down $0.41 in Q2.
Total operating expenses [accounted for] 11.5% of total revenues, compared to 12.9% in Q2, and 11.9% in Q3 2015.
Excluding non-cash expenses, the operating expense was [10.9%] of total revenue in Q3 2016.
Operating margin was 10.5%, compared to 7.5% in Q2, and 9.5% in Q3 2015.
Net interest expense was $33 million; up 81% sequentially, and up 50% year over year. The sequential increase was mainly due to the increase in loans associated with Jinko Power solar projects and fees charged by financial institutions associated with the discounted notes receivables.
EBITDA was $132 million, compared to $136 million in Q2, and $74 million in Q3 2015.
EBITDA related to module business was about $85 million, compared to $102 million in Q2, and $52 million in Q3 2015.
Net income was $35 million. This translates into basic and diluted earning per ADS of $1.12 and $0.92, respectively.
Non-GAAP net income was $46 million. This translate into non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS of $1.44 and $1.40, respectively.
Now, let's move to the balance sheet. By the end of Q3, cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash were $547 million, compared to $557 million by the end of second quarter.
Accounts receivable was $881 million, compared to $628 million by the end of Q2.
Accounts receivable related to module business was $694 million, compared to $478 million by the end of second quarter.
Inventories were $489 million, compared to $466 million by the end of second quarter.
Total debt was $2.2 billion, compared to $1.8 billion at the end of Q2.
The total debt related to module business was $918 million, compared to $809 million at the end of Q2.
We closed the sale of Jinko Power, which significantly solidified our balance sheet position.
In the investor relations' presentation, page 13, we provided the pro forma key items of our balance sheet, assuming the transaction was completed in September.
Post the transaction, the cash and restricted cash increased to $571 million, compared to $547 million.
The total debt was reduced to $918 million, compared to $2.2 billion.
Net debt significantly declined to $347 million, compared to $1.6 billion.
Total liability dropped to $2.5 billion, compared to $4 billion.
After the transaction, we are able to recognize the revenue for the module shipments to Jinko Power.
At this moment, we are happy to take your questions. Operator.
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Philip Shen, ROTH Capital Partners.
Philip Shen - Analyst
Thank you for taking my questions. You mentioned that your Q3 ASP was $0.49. I know that you see some weakness, and there's been some weakness, since then, but can you share with us what you expect your ASP to be on a blended basis in Q4; and can you also share what the ASP you see is by region in Q4?
And then finally, how do you expect ASPs to trend by quarter, by region, in 2017?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Let me correct one typo, one mistake, from my speech, just now. The ASP in Q3 actually is $0.50, instead of the number $0.49, so please take $0.50 as ASP for Q3.
And your follow-up question regarding this Q4 ASP, we are believing Q4 ASP will as the range of low 40s for this Q4. And, actually, we have seen the market price has dropped after the first half, and a pretty sharp decrease.
However, we have seen the picking up demand is very obvious, especially in China, also, as well as in India, so we are expecting the market price not only to become stable, but sometimes they will be coming back to a more reasonable market numbers. So, in that case, we are expecting the Q4 ASP will at the range of low 40s.
And for 2017, in general, we believe that price will continue to decrease a little bit. However, if we look into this quarter by quarter, we have seen -- as, obviously, we are expecting the China rush will impact the total ASP significantly; meanwhile, as well as this rush in Japan; as well as India, because both India and Japan start this [fiscal] year ended by March.
In that case, with these three major markets rush coming in on line at the same time, we are expecting the market price will become better.
Philip Shen - Analyst
Thanks, Gener. As a follow up to your response there, you mentioned that there might be a rush in China. I think this time around the deadline to receive the 2016 tariff is September 30, 2017, whereas earlier this year the deadline was for June 30, and I think we've seen that in prior years.
So how do you expect that extended three months deadline to impact the demand? Could there be a less of a demand pull-in in the first half since it's spread over more months?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
For China, actually, even -- no matter if the June, or end of September, is still a drop to face. It has not been finalized yet, so we don't know what will be the finalized date to now. But the extended three months from the first drop to second drop may, let's say, extend or ease some of this analysis from the industry that the drop of the feed-in tariff [add] to it far more significant than expectation.
And meanwhile, for this -- if the [real] change or the decrease of the feed-in tariff happens at what the [draft] is saying right now, I think the rush will become harder and stronger because everyone prefer -- will prefer to get this better feed-in tariff.
And meanwhile, for this China rush, there's another thought, or there's another consideration, will be this Top Runner Program. Actually, it is something beyond the normal feed-in tariff, because the electricity price or the final feed-in tariff is in the bidder phase. So once the bid is open, all the number is set. So that is something beyond the rush.
Philip Shen - Analyst
Great. I have one more, and then I'll pass it on. In terms of your cost structure, you improved it to $0.27 non-silicon cost structure from $0.29, so you improved it by two [pennies] in Q3. To what degree was that due to lower external wafer and cell costs? How much of the two pennies was due to the rapid decline in those two external costs?
And then, do you expect that benefit, if there is any, or was any, to continue forward? And then, what do you expect your cost structure to be in Q4, and then by Q4 2017? Thanks.
Charlie Cao - CFO
Philip, you are right, we successfully cut our non-silicon cost to $0.27. I think the saving of $0.02 is coming from the $0.01 is from the wafer side, and another $0.01 is from the module side.
We are still on the track to cut our total. From our perspective, we are targeting a total blending cost quarter by quarter. In Q3, the total blended cost is $0.40, and we are targeting to reach to around $0.35; and, of which, I think the $0.05, $0.03 is coming from the US tariff costs. In Q3, we still need to pay some tariff costs, including some inventories carried forward from the second quarter. But in the fourth quarter, we don't need to pay the tariff costs.
And for the in-house module costs, we are working on every aspect to continue to cut the in-house module costs, including we are getting lower material costs from our strategic suppliers. We continue to increase the production efficiencies and increase the automatic production levels.
So, all in all, I think we are very confident we can achieve the total blended cost to $0.35, compared to the $0.40 in the third quarter.
Philip Shen - Analyst
And thoughts on Q4 2017, where could the cost structure go?
Charlie Cao - CFO
Yes, Q4, I am saying the total blended costs will be around $0.35.
Philip Shen - Analyst
Sorry, Charlie, I mean the Q4 2017, so one year from now? Is that $0.35 [already] for Q4 2017?
Charlie Cao - CFO
You are talking about 2017, right? Sorry, I think we are still do --
Philip Shen - Analyst
(multiple speakers).
Charlie Cao - CFO
Yes, we are still doing the planning for 2017. I think we will announce in the next quarter, but I think the 10% I think is our initial target.
Philip Shen - Analyst
Great. Thanks. I'll pass it on.
Operator
Brad Meikle, Craig-Hallum.
Brad Meikle - Analyst
Could you talk a little bit more about 2017 and what -- you said you'd see a steep rebound in the US market, and just overall, coming out of [SPI], the sense that it was pretty negative about the direction of spot pricing, and you said it will come down a little bit more. What do you generally see in terms of how 2017 is shaping up in terms of your visibility, and what the second half could look like?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
A good question. Actually, we have seen the US market has, especially, the market price, significantly drop after as in Q3. The main reason, we believe, will be this actually the extension happened the year before.
Actually, because of ITC, previously, all this pipelines and the [business] cycles are designed and developed for this previous ITC schedule, which is ended by end of this year. So all the projects are scheduled to get [DoD] or grid connection by year end.
Once the ITC extension announced and the new business cycle start, I think all this pipeline of Greenfield development activities will take a couple of months; let's say, around 10 months business cycle, to get a real license.
In that case, operators' old pipelines [done], and before the new pipelines is coming up on line, and there will be some time of, let's say, panic or lack of the demand. That's mainly the reason why the market price changes so significantly for this year end.
However, we believe, starting from the mid or early 2017, that things will become better. One way is saying that the other major markets, such like China, Japan, India, the demand is pretty strong. Everyone's very busy with get grid connection by first half.
Meanwhile, US, some of the early development has been done, so more and more demand is picking up, and people will not be as panic as before. So we believe, in the second half of 2017, US market will give us a kind of a booming compared what's happening for this year end.
Brad Meikle - Analyst
And how much of 2017 orders are on the books at all? Do you know where you are looking at pricing in terms of taking orders and giving customers some level of guidance and what they should expect?.
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
In general, we have around 30% of the orders for 2017; and, for sure, we are closely follow the market changes, and we will picking up more orders, fulfilling the from near-term to mid-term to long-term orders.
Brad Meikle - Analyst
Thanks. Just last question, do you have an estimate on what global demand is, from your vantage point, for 2017 and 2018?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Sorry, can repeat?
Brad Meikle - Analyst
What your estimate of global demand is for 2017, and 2018. Do you think the global solar market grows in megawatts next year, and the following?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Okay, for 2017, we believe the growth will not as strong as what's happening in 2016, so, however, it is still a good market. We are expecting around 10% to 15% increase between 2017 and 2016.
And for solar, [that] with 2018, personally, I will be more optimistic for 2018, because with this more system cost decrease we have seen lots of market become economical, [become] fully viable, meanwhile, and more regions will issue the policy, supported policy for the solar market. So more market will coming up on line for solar market will be very booming for 2018.
Brad Meikle - Analyst
You see a lot of these markets fitting in, in terms of expansion, to rest of the world, outside of the [single] market?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Yes. Especially in the emerging markets, such as Latin America, Middle East, Africa, all these kind of emerging world of in solar industry, lots of governments are issuing supportive policies or they are moving on these rushes. We believe more clarities will happen within 2017.
Brad Meikle - Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
Gordon Johnson, Axiom Capital.
Gordon Johnson - Analyst
I guess, on the China market, China recently reduced their installation target by 2020 to 110 gigawatts from 150 gigawatts; and given they've already installed 43, and it looks like they're going to do about 25 this year and 24 next year, that would suggest there's going to be a significant fall off in 2018 if you just look at 2018, 2019, 2020, getting to 110 gigawatts, or even maybe 10 gigawatts above it.
Do you guys see a significant fall off in Chinese installations in 2018, due to the reduced target? And can you remind us, again, how many projects you sold this quarter? Then, I have a follow up. Thanks.
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Thank you. For China market, I see the installation of the mono for modules 2018 will still be strong because lots of, let's say, certificated or approved projects, pipelines have to finish installation by the latest drop, say, in September 30. So it means that before 2017, end of September, lots of this pipeline have to be installed, otherwise they will lose these old feed-in tariff. In that case, I believe China market will still be strong in 2017.
For the further year, like 2018, 2019, even 2020, the current new five-year plan saying the total number will become smaller as the 110 gigawatts. However, they split up this (inaudible), saying that no less than 110 gigawatts [for it], which means that they setting up 110 gigawatts as the bottom of their target.
And as far as we have heard from the market, actually, the EDA are targeting more ambitious targets, especially with the current spots are dropping electricity price in solar biddings in Top Runner Program.
Charlie Cao - CFO
Just to settlement, we think it's a conservative target for the overall 110 gigawatts. The government wants to promote the [disability] on ratings and promote the Top Runner Program to adopt the high-efficiency technology, and to lower the PPA.
So the target to deploy more solar projects in China, and there is a dramatically lower system costs. And we are still very optimistic for China market, so we remain our estimations for the 150 gigawatts by the end of 2020.
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
Gordon, to make some color on this, and also, we want to mention that this year one of the hot topics in China is that policy alleviation program, which are not included in those five-year plan.
And like Gener and Charlie said, it is the work of (inaudible) and kind of a high-level target. Just government want to achieve it, for sure, but, in fact, we think the real connection will be a lot more than this number.
Gordon Johnson - Analyst
Okay, that's helpful. And then, I guess, on the Front Runner program, it seems like it's clearly a reverse-auction program. And from the checks we've done, we're hearing that bids are being submitted for the high 30s right now for the Front Runner program. And I guess it hasn't been specified yet, but the assumption is that it's going to be 10 gigawatts in 2017, which means Front Runner will jump from roughly 23% of installations in 2016 to roughly 40% in 2017.
If bids are being submitted so low, given the reverse-action nature of this program, does that have the potential effect of weighing on module prices more significantly maybe than we would have thought previously?
Gener Miao - VP, Global Sales & Marketing
Well, for the Top Runner Program, we've seen some time the bidders are beyond our expectation, and they behave very aggressively. Sometimes, we believe it's not good for the industry.
But we believe it will be the -- it shows some indication that some of our peers are very desperate to get some projects in China. And, meanwhile, for this pressure of the pricing side, we believe, actually, at the end days, will be the market [trial].
Even if you intend to buy some high-quality, high-efficiency products at very aggressive price, sometimes not -- you cannot buy that, especially when all this 5 gigawatt Top Runner Program starts installation and have such demand in a similar timeframe.
Back to your Top Runner scheme for this following year, actually, we believe Top Runner is designed to get this high-efficiency, high-quality product stage to show, and to give you a showcase from the State level.
However, when the government observes this crazy or drastic pricing for the electricity, what have we heard is there's another program is in progress which caused a -- which got a super Top Runner Program, which will emphasis on this efficiency and cutting-edge technology, instead of this pricing of the electricity. So, that's what we heard.
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
Gordon, one comment to add. I think there's a little bit misunderstanding in the market about Top Runner Program and the final bidding price. Because I think people pay too much attention to the low price of some of the bidding results.
But, in fact, lot of the projects the price range are making sense, and in normal range. Some of the projects the result is a super-low price. Like Gener said, while remains that some of our peers they are a little bit desperate to get those projects.
I think, really, some SOEs they have their targets, or they have their quota, to finish by this year; then they have to bid for this projects, no matter what price it is. But if you look at other prices, especially the price Jinko have won, it's not that ridiculous.
I think if you ask, we can provide you details about our -- the project we won and the final results. That will make a lot of sense to you.
Gordon Johnson - Analyst
Okay. Then, lastly, what was your operating cash flow in the quarter?
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
I think Charlie will answer this.
Charlie Cao - CFO
Back to another question, I think you are asking how many projects we are seeing (multiple speakers).
Gordon Johnson - Analyst
Yes.
Charlie Cao - CFO
For Jinko Power, we have a closed the transaction to sell the equity we have for Jinko Power. I think I just recommend you can refer to the revenues we have released our website.
And in terms of the cash flow, the operating cash flow for third quarter I think is around, let's say, [$180 million], which is because we investing the working capital for the soft shipment in the fourth quarter, and in the next few quarters.
One of the items is accounts receivable, which increase, I think, around $200 million. That is because after the first half-year, [loss insulate] in China. And based on the market conditions, the payment term has been a little bit longer. The turnover days for the module business increased from 60 days to 80 days, and we are expecting the payment term will improve by end of the year.
Gordon Johnson - Analyst
Okay. And what was the operating cash flow for the quarter?
Charlie Cao - CFO
Operating cash flow is, I just said, negative $180 million.
Gordon Johnson - Analyst
Okay. Thanks a lot for the questions, guys.
Operator
[Alec Berman], Coyote Capital.
Alec Berman - Analyst
Just wanted to clarify, did you -- I guess, you gave some ASP and cost guidance, so you're basically saying Q4 margins are looking around 20%? Is that what the implication was? I just want to clarify that.
And then, what are your thoughts on margins for 2017, as we go through the year?
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
(inaudible - technical difficulty) did not hear the question at all.
Alec Berman - Analyst
There's some static on the line.
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
Okay, yes, that's good.
Alec Berman - Analyst
Okay. My question was about margins in Q4. Are you implying that they're going to be around 20%, based on what you said about ASPs and costs?
Then also, what are your thoughts on margins in Q1, and then as we head through the year, kind of where you're thinking on margins?
Charlie Cao - CFO
In Q3, I think we are very successfully to improve our gross margin to 22%, of which module business was around 19%, and Jinko Power business is around [61%]. By the end of October, we closed the transaction to sell the Jinko Power.
Looking to the fourth quarter, for the module business, we expect the gross margin is in the range of, I think, of 15% to 18%. And looking -- in terms of Q1 next year, we're still targeting over 15% gross margin.
Alec Berman - Analyst
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Mike Adams, Graham Capital.
Mike Adams - Analyst
I was wondering if you could tell me what the current outstanding balance of the 4% convertible notes is, and what the plan is to repay them, assuming they're put in February. Thank you.
Charlie Cao - CFO
The convertible bonds, I think you can refer to our balance sheet, we have a number separately presented, it's around, I think, $80 million to $85 million.
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
(inaudible - technical difficulty) repurchasing, so we cannot give you the number right now. That's sensitive information, which may reflect the market price. So if you are looking at the number at the quarter end, you can definitely chart it, so you can go to our (inaudible).
Mike Adams - Analyst
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
As there are no further questions in the queue, I will turn the program back to Mr. Liu for any additional or closing remarks. Thank you.
Sebastian Liu - Director, IR
On behalf of the entire JinkoSolar management team, I want to thank you for your interest and participation on this call. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Have a good day, and good evening. Thank you, all. Goodbye.
Operator
That will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect.
Editor
Portions of this transcript that are marked (interpreted) were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call. The interpreter was provided by the Company sponsoring this Event.